dvi vs dvi -> vga adapter quality?

Maezr

Senior member
Jan 20, 2002
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I want to try to make my PC a bit more silent but I'm not looking to completely rebuild yet. replacing my video card isn't an option as it's an agp system and I obviously won't be going agp when I rebuild.

I have two video cards:

Geforce 6600GT AGP -- no silencer is available for this. I currently use this as it has dual dvi ports and I use dual displays.

Radeon 9800 AGP -- quiet heatsinks are available, but it only has 1x dvi and 1x vga. I could use the card but then I'd need to use a dvi -> vga adapter to use my monitor. how big of a quality loss would there be if I did that?

are there options I haven't considered?
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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I'm kind of confused. Why would you need to use a DVI to VGA adapter to use the 9800 and not to use the 6600gt?

Note that DVI to VGA adapters do not work the other way around (you cannot use one to get DVI-D from VGA)
 

Maezr

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Jan 20, 2002
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I have two monitors that use dvi.

one video card has two dvi inputs, one has one dvi and one vga.

to use the one with the one vga, I'd need to use an adapter. it'd come with a loss of quality but I'm not sure how much.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

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Originally posted by: Maezr
I have two monitors that use dvi.

one video card has two dvi inputs, one has one dvi and one vga.

to use the one with the one vga, I'd need to use an adapter. it'd come with a loss of quality but I'm not sure how much.

You can't use a DVI to VGA adapter to go VGA to DVI.
 

JustAnAverageGuy

Diamond Member
Aug 1, 2003
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Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Maezr
I have two monitors that use dvi.

one video card has two dvi inputs, one has one dvi and one vga.

to use the one with the one vga, I'd need to use an adapter. it'd come with a loss of quality but I'm not sure how much.

You can't use a DVI to VGA adapter to go VGA to DVI.

I believe he's asking what kind of quality loss there would be if he went from a DVI cable to an analog (converted from DVI) cable for his monitor.

The answer to that depends primarily upon what your monitor is, what kind of resolution you plan on using, and what kind of activities you plan on doing with it.

You can buy 6600(GT) silencers though. Link

If you're talking about just passive heatsinks though, that may be a bit harder. I believe Gigabyte made one at some time though.

Are you trying to find something like this in AGP form?

- Newbie
 

Maezr

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Jan 20, 2002
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the monitors are syncmaster 910t's. I run at 1280x1024x2. mostly web development / multitasking like crazy stuff.

the silencer you linked to is for the 6600GT PCI.. I need AGP
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

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Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Maezr
I have two monitors that use dvi.

one video card has two dvi inputs, one has one dvi and one vga.

to use the one with the one vga, I'd need to use an adapter. it'd come with a loss of quality but I'm not sure how much.

You can't use a DVI to VGA adapter to go VGA to DVI.

I believe he's asking what kind of quality loss there would be if he went from a DVI cable to an analog (converted from DVI) cable for his monitor.

The answer to that depends primarily upon what your monitor is, what kind of resolution you plan on using, and what kind of activities you plan on doing with it.

You can buy 6600(GT) silencers though. Link

If you're talking about just passive heatsinks though, that may be a bit harder. I believe Gigabyte made one at some time though.

Are you trying to find something like this in AGP form?

- Newbie

I don't know why you'd use an adapter though. Why would you use one?
 

Maezr

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Jan 20, 2002
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because without one there's no way to connect the second monitor to the video card.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

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Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: Maezr
because without one there's no way to connect the second monitor to the video card.

If you have two DVI only monitors, you can't connect them both to a card with one DVI and one VGA output.

The reason the DVI to VGA adapter works is because videocards output DVI-I which has the analog signal needed within the signal. Your monitors take DVI-D. You cannot use a simple adapter to bo from VGA to DVI-D.
 

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
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Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: Maezr
because without one there's no way to connect the second monitor to the video card.

If you have two DVI only monitors, you can't connect them both to a card with one DVI and one VGA output.

The reason the DVI to VGA adapter works is because videocards output DVI-I which has the analog signal needed within the signal. Your monitors take DVI-D. You cannot use a simple adapter to bo from VGA to DVI-D.

That sums it up.

If a graphics card has a DVI port on the back of it, and your monitor has a VGA cable, you can use a DVI-to-VGA connector to connect them together.

If your graphics card has a VGA port on the back, and the monitor uses DVI cables, you're pretty much out of luck.
 

The J

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Aug 30, 2004
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So, your monitors have only DVI inputs in them? If that's the case, then you do not want to use a DVI->VGA adapter. You will need a VGA->DVI adapter, which are much more expensive from what I've seen. Going from DVI to VGA shouldn't be too hard, but going from VGA to DVI (which is what you seem to need) is more difficult.

I think this is what Jello is asking.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: Maezr
if that's the case why are adapters available for both directions?

Link to adapter you're talking about?

All the cheap ones are just taking the analog signal off a DVI-I signal and converting that to a VGA type connection.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
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dvi i has pins for analog backwards compatibility. analog was never designed to include dvi. it just wont work